In the past month, as a new security crackdown in Baghdad began, U.S. forces arrested another 1,000 Iraqis, bringing to 18,000 the number of detainees jailed in two U.S.-run facilities in that country. The average stay in these detention centers is about a year, but about 8,000 of the detainees have been jailed longer, including 1,300 who have been in custody for two years, said a statement provided by Capt. Phillip J. Valenti, spokesman for Task Force 134, the U.S. Military Police group handling detainee operations. "The intent is to detain individuals determined to be true threats to coalition forces, Iraqi Security Forces and stability in Iraq," Valenti said. "Unlike situations in the past, these detainees are not conventional prisoners of war." Instead, he said, they are "diverse civilian internees from widely divergent political, religious and ethnic backgrounds who are detained on the basis of ... http://www.washingtonpost.com

Iran's Supreme Court has acquitted a group of men charged over a series of gruesome killings in 2002, according to lawyers for the victims' families. The vigilantes were not guilty because their victims were involved in un-Islamic activities, the court found. The killers said they believed Islam let them spill the blood of anyone engaged in illicit activities if they issued two warnings to the victims. The serial killings took place in 2002 in the south-eastern city of Kerman. The case raises serious questions about vigilantes in Iran taking justice into their own hands and undermining the rule of law. Up to 18 people were killed in just one year, but only five of the murders were tried in court. According to their confessions, the killers put some of their victims in pits and stoned them to death. Others were suffocated. One man was even buried alive while others had their bodies dumped in the desert to be eaten by wild animals. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6557679.stm

Troops with powerful rifle scopes scanned mountain ridges for elusive, black-clad Taliban infiltrators. Afghan soldiers, hit by a roadside bomb, pressed on into the valley. U.S. Special Forces swept through the sinister alleys of its main settlement. The strike, carried out by about 200 American and Afghan government forces, was supposed to sever a major insurgent infiltration and supply route from neighboring Pakistan to Islamic fighters deep in Afghanistan. But the attack didn't work an object lesson in why 47,000 U.S. and NATO forces are struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban movement. Field officers say eradicating fighters who cross the porous 1,470-mile border is like trying to drain a swamp when one cannot shut off the streams feeding it. Pakistan's failure to dam those streams has deepened the five-year-old conflict, they say. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3043232

Two men hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in a prison courtyard, where they picked up a prisoner in a dramatic jailbreak Sunday, news reports said. The accomplices paid for a helicopter ride at an airstrip near the city of Sint-Truiden, then produced a pistol and hand-grenade, ordering the pilot to fly to Lantin prison outside nearby Liege, several radio stations reported. The helicopter landed in the prison yard while prisoners were exercising and a Frenchman in pretrial detention climbed on board. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3043245

A US pilot involved in the friendly fire killing of a UK soldier is returning to fight in Iraq next month, it has emerged. Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, 25, of Windsor, Berkshire, died when his Scimitar tank came under fire from a US A-10 "Tank Buster" plane in March 2003. One of two pilots involved in the incident is now being deployed in Iraq as part of the Idaho Air Guard. A spokesman said he was deployed due to his "extensive combat experience". Air Guard spokesman 1st Lt Tony Vincelli said the pilot's squadron would focus on providing close air support for ground troops, but for security reasons the exact location of the deployment would not be made public. The other pilot involved in the "blue on blue" attack on British scimitar armoured vehicles near Basra has since retired. At an inquest earlier this year, Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker concluded L/Cp Hull was unlawfully killed. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/6557699.stm

A string of car bombs and suicide attacks across Iraq on Sunday killed and wounded dozens in what has been a bloody weekend for the war-ravaged nation. Reports of the attacks came as the British Ministry of Defense announced that two British military helicopters apparently collided and crashed Sunday in a rural area on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, killing two British soldiers and seriously injuring a third.Initial reports suggest that the crash was an accident and enemy fire was not involved, Defense Secretary Des Browne said.The choppers went down near Taji, a town 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.Also Sunday morning, two car bombs exploded within minutes of each other in a shopping and dining area of southwest Baghdad, killing at least 18 people and wounding another 52 people, according to Baghdad police....http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/04/15/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_world